Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 11871 Gunner (Gnr) James Scoular Coles. A storekeeper from Collingwood, Victoria, prior to enlistment, Gnr Coles embarked with the rank of Acting Sergeant with the 3rd Reinforcements, 4th Field Artillery Brigade from Melbourne on HMAT Themistocles on 28 January 1916. Later transferring to the 2nd Divisional Ammunition Column he was promoted to Sergeant and was killed in action on 10 August 1916. He was subsequently buried in the Gordon Dump Cemetery, Ovillers la Boisselle, France. His brother, 393 Corporal David Henry Coles died of wounds on 20 October 1917. A third brother, 75 Second Lieutenant Arthur William Coles also served overseas. This is one of a series of photographs taken by the Darge Photographic Company which had a permit to take photographs at the Broadmeadows and Seymour army camps during the First World War. In the 1930s, the Australian War Memorial purchased the original glass negatives from Algernon Darge, along with the photographers' notebooks. The notebooks contain brief details, usually a surname or unit name, for each negative.